Cylindrical grinding is a machining process in which an abrasive grinding wheel is used to remove material from a workpiece. In a typical cylindrical grinding operation, a grinding wheel is mounted on a quill. A spindle or rotating shaft supplies rotational motion to the quill and grinding wheel. The grinding wheel rotates at a high rate of speed and is brought into contact with the workpiece at the grind zone. The abrasive grains of the grinding wheel shear very small chips from the surface of the workpiece, generating large amounts of heat. A coolant fluid is supplied to the grind zone both to dissipate heat and to remove the chips to prevent clogging.
One type of cylindrical grinding is inside diameter (ID) grinding. In a typical ID grinding operation, the grinding wheel is placed in a hole in the workpiece such that there is a small gap between the grinding wheel and the part. Because of the small size of the gap, it can be difficult to supply coolant to the grind zone. Material may become packed into the grinding wheel surface, clogging the operation.
Prior art inventions address the problem of supplying coolant to the grind zone in an ID operation by targeting a stream of coolant in the gap between the grinding wheel and the work surface. In some applications, coolant is targeted (e.g. with a jet or a sprayer) about 90° from the grind zone, perpendicular to the rotational direction of the wheel. In other applications, coolant is fed through the spindle. In each case, the coolant often fails to effectively reach the grind zone.